Seniors Cricket Australia National Championships - Hobart

The 10th National Seniors Cricket Championship was held in Hobart from Sunday 15 November to Friday 20 November 2015.

We arrived in Hobart early Sunday afternoon and met up with a number of other players from Victorian teams at the airport. Robin was in the Victoria Metro team (1st division) and cars had been organised to use by the team while in Hobart so, after establishing who would travel in which car, our group set off for the Mid City Hotel. The hotel was conveniently situated in the centre of the city within easy walking distance of places I wanted to visit as well as some of the cricket grounds where games were played.

Once we had unpacked it was time to explore our immediate surroundings before heading off to the Meet and Greet. We headed down Elizabeth Street to the Docks area where we had a late lunch at Fish Frenzy on Elizabeth Street Pier. We shared a delicious serve of fish and chips served in a paper cone.

The Meet and Greet was held at Bellerive at the Blundstone Arena, a venue we have frequently seen on television when cricket matches have been televised from there. The Premier of Tasmania, Will Hodgman, opened the Championships.

Thirty-six teams took part in the 2015 championships divided into three divisions for the Over 60s plus a division for the Over 70s. States such as Victoria had more than one team entered in a division. It was therefore a fantastic operation undertaken by Seniors Cricket Tasmania to organise the event especially as players and partners attending the championships totalled almost 700 people. As well as being the 10th National Seniors Cricket Championship, Tasmania was celebrating 150 years of cricket in the state.

One of the features of attending the championships this year was the number of people who Robin and I knew. This was our third championships so we caught up with a number of players and their wives who we had met previously. Added to this we had been on three cricket tours this year so we now knew many other players from other states and other Victorian teams. Everywhere we went we met someone that we knew consequently there was much socialising and catching up on what had happened since we had last met. We felt that we were part of the Seniors Cricket community.

The Bellerive ground is situated in a most attractive setting as these views show.

The Meet and Greet provided a great introduction to the week of cricket ahead.